Guest pen - What to expect with a newborn?

The amount of sleep begins to decrease rapidly as the baby grows and the newborn stays awake a little longer. The structure of sleep in a newborn is still immature, and the baby does not have a circadian rhythm. Due to its immaturity, newborn sleep is often very sensitive and the baby may wake up sensitively. The baby can also regulate and move during sleep.

The development of the baby's brain allows the development of circadian rhythms, and some may have circadian rhythms as early as three months of age, while others may take much longer. During the first years of a child's life, there may be great differences in the development of sleep and circadian rhythm, but they even out as they grow.

Finding a small baby's daily rhythm can be gently supported in the following ways:

• Give your child plenty of affection and do well during the day
• Reduce activity per evening and calm down moments before bedtime
• Create a regular and comfortable evening routine, which can include e.g. Evening bath, diaper change and evening feeding, as well as calm song or song (1)
• Take care of the nocturnal diaper changes and feeds in the dark (2)
• During the day it should be bright and at night the bedroom should be dark at night
• Avoid anesthetizing - give the baby the opportunity to fall asleep on his own
• Instead of automatic night feedings, one can experiment to see if the baby would calm down e.g. By stroking
• Make sure your baby is safe

The baby wakes up to eat about 8-12 times a day, but there is a lot of individual variation. Breast milk is adequate nutrition for the baby alone until the age of six months, along with vitamin D supplementation is recommended. Breastfeeding can be especially challenging at first and successful breastfeeding requires a lot of knowledge and learning. Help with the challenges of breastfeeding can be obtained from the counseling clinic, the maternity hospital and the Breastfeeding Support Ry website.

The newborn has the capacity for interaction, for which he is capable and willing. The baby communicates by vocalizing, in its first months with the help of crying. The baby's crying is most abundant in about the first two months, and even a perfectly healthy baby cries two to four hours a day. Most often, crying is concentrated in the evenings. The baby may also have colic, which is defined as paroxysmal crying that begins at the age of a few weeks and lasts about a few months to age. Against the background of colic crying, there is no organic disease and About 10% of babies suffer from it. (3) The baby's tearfulness begins to ease, usually at the age of 3 months. If the baby has suffered from colic, it will also gradually begin to ease.

The baby learns interactions from other people and therefore the baby needs company from birth. To secure the development of the baby, it is enough to do what most parents do to sketch, that is, chat, hold on lap, swing, do gymnastic movements for the baby (4), singing, humming, displaying household items and getting to know new people. Each baby develops at its own pace and the most important thing is to take into account the needs of the baby. The newborn's eyesight is not yet very accurate, but he sees the people nearby. At first, babies are particularly interested in human faces and black and white patterns. (5)

At the age of 2-3 months, a developmental level jump occurs when the baby develops a social, reciprocal smile. At this age, the baby begins to interact more with the parent and communicates in long sighs. The baby's eyesight develops rapidly and the child enjoys looking at the environment, as well as looking at various objects. Especially colorful objects at this stage attract the attention of the baby. At the age of 2-3 months, the baby begins to grab objects with his hands (6) and takes everything into his mouth, with the help of which he gets acquainted with objects and the world. In this case, it is important to ensure that the baby does not get into his mouth any dangerous objects that may suffocate or contain something toxic.

The physical development of the baby proceeds at its own pace and there are guidelines in the clinic according to which the development is monitored. At the age of 1-2 months, the newborn begins to support his head on his stomach while lying down, and moves his arms and legs at the same time.
At about 2-4 months of age, the baby begins to lean on his forearms while lying on his back, as well as reach for objects with both hands, trying to grab them. The baby also begins to examine his own hands.

During the first months of the baby's life, the mother's risk of postpartum depression is at its highest. The risk is three times that of other women of the same age. Postpartum sensitization, or baby blues, occurs in up to 80% of people who give birth and this is thought to be a normal phenomenon. If your own condition, moods, caring for your baby or other things that bother your mind make you think hard or affect your daily routine, you should talk about them sensitively at the counseling center and if postpartum depression is diagnosed, help is available for this.

The birth of a baby is quite a turmoil in everyday life for the first few months and a wide range of emotions are involved. However, it is also important to remember to keep up with parents, because a healthy parent can also take care of the needs of the baby. If your own coping is under test, you should tell your spouse, loved ones or at the counseling center and ask for help in caring for your baby.

In these Blog we talked about - Tips for children's accessories:

1. You don't want to sing yourself?Thankfully music boxes You can find it no matter how! Most often, the music boxes include a Brahmin classic, an affectionate lullaby, but Noise devices you can also choose different sound worlds, such as sea noise or rain ringing.(Back to text)
2. Diaper change in the dark easily succeeds sleeping bag with the help of. Choose a sleeping bag, where there is a two-way zipper. In this case, you can keep the sleeping bag on and open only the end of the foot, making it easy to change diapers! On top of the sleeping bag, the plant will also become a nice part of the evening routine.Also try a frosted night lightif fiddling in the dark is challenging. The night lights are bright enough to see what you're doing (no need to work perfectly) and dim at the same time that they won't suit everyone awake.(Back to text)
3. Although there is no universal way to end colic crying (except for time), you can try the reflectors baby swings. They bounce the baby from side to side or back and forth, which may calm the baby. An alternative is also wedge cushion, which you can add to both the cradle and the pinx, which will elevate the upper body and may thus relieve tummy problems and colic. If you are running low on resources, you should try these.(Back to text)
4. You can also take advantage of the exercise play mat.
   Tiny Love's playmats have a lot of toys that later develop your baby's cognitive skills, but at first they also serve as a nice cuddle platform. With Kids Concept's playpen, you can choose toys from soft and hard toys, and even vary these depending on the development. In this toy arch you can also craft toys yourself!(Back to text)
5. A tiny little baby is interested in black and white patterns, making black and white toys fun! Black and white toys can be found, among other things, in the wonderful Tiny Loven Magical Talesfrom the series. Also check Tikiri chewing toys, which include Zebra, Cow, and Sheep, which have black and white coloring. These toys go on playing for a long time - at the time of teething, they can be chewed and later you can even play on a farm or safari.(Back to text)
6. Toy arch is a fun addition when the baby starts to grab things with his hands. Colourful toys that pull towards themselves are a real fun thing! See also hanging toys, whose seats are super easy to vary and have different entertainments for your child.(Back to text)

Lastentarvike will help you with the purchase of children's supplies. You don't need to know anything when you come to us - we are experts in the field and it's up to us to know everything about baby supplies. Together we will map out your supply needs and suitable products for your family. Welcome to us ❤ Also remember that you don't need a lot of supplies to start with. You can get to the top of the list with these products >> Once you have gotten to know your baby more, welcome back to us and together we will find children's accessories suitable for your family and your little one.

Sources:

‍We will be a baby guide

THL.fi - Baby sleep

Health Gate - Crying Baby

Health Library - Baby Stomach Disorders

Health Library - Common Phenomena of Infants

Duodecim - Pediatrics Textbook

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